Six Flags America (SFA) Discussion Thread

[ilrider]

I found out some of the songs that go to Apocalypse's station. It was really hard to find. I found these a few weeks ago:

 

 

 

"Celldweller: Empyrean."

 

"Celldweller: A Gift For You."

 

 

 

Cool! Celldweller is one of my favorite artists! Have seen them (him really--Klayton writes all the music) live a couple times and own a ton of his music! That would be awesome to hear in the station.

[SuperShawn]

Word on the street is the height restriction for this park as well as longer hours they can be open have been granted....

 

...Lets see if this helps the park at all.

 

The park needs way more than those restrictions lifted to help it...

[alilstronger]

Yes Shawn you are so right!

 

The thing is there is so much potential in this park. They own so much land and could do so much more.

[jray21]

Lifting those restriction would be nice, but I agree that there is more that needs to be done.

[Oryp]

Bonzai Pipelines are now open, as per SFA Facebook page.

[Voxelmatic]

That took long enough. I'll head over and get some pictures when I go later this week.

[ArundelHigh Coasters]

Screamscape has posted new rumors regarding new attractions for SFA for 2014. The first rumor is that the rodeo flat ride in Coyote Creek will be removed to make room for an Intamin ZacSpin coaster to come. The other more believable rumor about the ZacSpin is that it will be going in Two-Face's former location. The other coaster that is rumored to come to SFA next year is the Rajin Cajun wild mouse coaster from SFGAm. and will be installed in Two-Face's former location. I personally think these are both good ideas since SFA doesn't have a decent "family" coaster yet. I'd rather see the ZacSpin though . But a Wild Mouse is better than nothing.

 

Screamscape link: http://www.screamscape.com/html/six_flags_america.htm

[XYZ]

^If the ZacSpin is programmed the same way as the one in SFMM, I think you would rather have the mouse.

[Sir Clinksalot]

Maybe they are just moving Green Lantern from SFMM and putting something else in it's place. We can hope!!!

 

I wouldn't mind Ragin' Cajun coming to SFMM personally.

 

Nice that the height restrictions are being relaxed. I agree with everybody else that SFA has a LOT of potential. They have some decent coasters. Superman is of course the standout but we noticed on our visit last week a LOT of rust on the trains. Even on the "Coaster Wars" show we could still see it. You would have thought they would have cleaned it up for TV.

 

The park does need more than that as Shawn mentioned.

[SuperShawn]

I'll happily take the zac spin over the mouse. The rides are extremely hit and miss as far as weight and getting even one flip, but I'd rather gamble on that than ride yet another wild mouse. Plus there are other wild mouse in the area, getting a unique ride to market would most likely work more in SFA's favor.

Edited July 15, 2013 by SuperShawn

[cfc]

I think a Zac Spin, if run properly, would be good for SFA.

 

Note that I said "if run properly."

[ernierocker]

Unless Maryland secedes from the Union, I think it is safe that it would run the same as Green Lantern.

[GigaG]

I liked GL if only for how unique it was. It beats you up, yes, and it doesn't flip much, but it is still the only one of its kind in the States. Do any of the European Zacspins spin normally these days?

 

The ride op at SFMM also told me the equal balance loading is required because if the train comes into the brakes inverted or highly tilted and they can't rotate it, they need to stop it and call maintenance. I think he told me that the righting system in the station does not always work properl.

 

Honestly, why is it balanced? Is it the brake dillema, or the fear of a lawsuit (for running the ride the way it was manufactured to do so????)

[larrygator]

^ At Grona Lund the ride ops were able to manually upright a tilted car, probably not allowed in the US.

 

I'd expect a Star Flyer to be built before another 200 foot coaster at SFA.

[_koppen]

^ At Grona Lund the ride ops were able to manually upright a tilted car, probably not allowed in the US.

 

If that's not allowed in the States then it is ridiculous.

Edited July 16, 2013 by _koppen

[coasterfreak101]

^Welcome to the States.

[zachclarke2]

I think a zac spin could work for the park, at least it's something different and interesting. As mentioned above, it would be marketable if nothing else. A mouse, not so much. Maybe they could market it as the "world's first backwards spinning wild mouse coaster".

 

Yesterday, I went to the park for the first time in 7 years or so, as an opportunity to go showed itself, and also I had a free ticket. I took oodles of pictures and video, and made a trip report (if you want to call it that). A good day overall, if not a tad irritating, but I did what I went there for at least.

 

The park was more or less as I remembered it, if not a little cleaner. The rides are pretty decent, and *most* of the staff were friendly and helpful and whatnot. I do have two rants, though.

1. The operations were absolutely horrid. I'm not gonna go into this one, everybody's already heard it.

2. None of the employees knew the policies. I have this tripod, not massive, but fairly large that I use to take pictures and video and whatnot. I carried it in the park, security checked it, let me come in with it no questions asked. After I rode stuff I took it over to Whistlestop to take video of the coasters. For the first 20 minutes or so, none of the employees really payed much attention to me. I walked over to Joker and started filming it, when an employee came over to me and told me that I was not allowed to film the rides, and that I needed special permission. I left there and went to Batwing, and asked a few workers there if I was allowed to film video, they all said yes. By Apocalypse, I was approached by a security guard, who proceeded to tell me that "they should not have let me in, tripods are not allowed, professional equipment is banned." I left there and started wandering around the park. At one point, I passed the "security hangout area" I guess it was, and I stopped to ask what the policy on tripods was. Sure enough, they told me they were allowed. I don't so much mind the fact that tripods weren't allowed in the park (or maybe they were, I have no idea), but I hated the fact that nobody seemed to know what the rules are.

 

To sum it up, I'm fairly glad I got in free.

 

The videos are pretty light, mainly do to slow operation and 90+ heat. But, there're still pretty good. Be sure to watch them in HD.

 

Apocalypse -

Batwing -

Joker's Jinx -

Superman -

Wild One -

 

Some of the "higher end" photos are here if you'd like to take a look -------> clicky

 

Here's my trip report, although it's mainly just pictures of the coasters.

"Welcome to Hell!"

Is it really? I had no idea!

Apocalypse. I'll get back to it later.

It was at this point I put my camera crap into an incredibly inefficient locker, and went to ride stuff.

Fast forward two hours, this was my lunch. No regrets.

Joker is a good ride, though I think I prefer FoF. I rode two times, but I twisted my leg the second time. Not a fun time.

Over to Whistlestop for some photo ops...

I wonder who Donn is.

Superman is a fantastic ride. Even moreso than I remembered from my previous visit. Intamin done good.

The helices aren't quite as good as airtime hills, but they do give a good sense of speed.

Superman has quite a lot of airtime, as properly demonstrated by those womens' hair.

I knew the operations were bad but good lord. I hung around in the Batwing plaza and waited for 5 or 6 train cycles so I could take pictures and video. I was back there just short of an hour. That's about 8/9 minutes per dispatch.

The sign looks a little tired.

I had not been on Batwing before. I liked it more than Nighthawk, but I found the leg guards to be awkward and uncomfortable.

Back to Apocalypse. A good ride overall, I enjoyed it more than Mantis to say the least, but not more than Green Lantern.

The back row had some interesting hangtime in the loop.

I didn't notice much headbanging aside from the corkscrew, so that's pretty good.

I can honestly say that it's my favorite standup coaster in the park.

It has fire, though! Fire makes any ride better.

Except Mind Eraser. Fire wouldn't make Mind Eraser better.

Not even bacon could make Mind Eraser better.

 

...

 

Okay, maybe bacon would help a little bit.

Roar could certainly benefit from fire.

That is, if the ride was completely engulfed in that fire.

The level of theming and detail in this park is astounding.

Making my way back to the front of the park...

I hadn't been on Wild One before either. I liked it. I was actually surprised by how good it was.

"If you have to resort to doing this, you're probably a failing company."

That pretty much sums up the pictures.

It looks pretty from out here at least.

Edited July 19, 2013 by zachclarke2

[PalmTree55]

Great TR! I was up near SFA, but never got the chance to visit. SFA Looks like a decent park with a couple of good coasters. I'd like to get up there sometime soon.

[GigaG]

^ At Grona Lund the ride ops were able to manually upright a tilted car, probably not allowed in the US.

 

I'd expect a Star Flyer to be built before another 200 foot coaster at SFA.

 

Now, why would a ride with a system that is unable to right the cars have rules on the ride ops NOT to right the cars?

[vacoaster09]

Great pictures and video

[Zcev5454]

^ At Grona Lund the ride ops were able to manually upright a tilted car, probably not allowed in the US.

 

I'd expect a Star Flyer to be built before another 200 foot coaster at SFA.

 

Now, why would a ride with a system that is unable to right the cars have rules on the ride ops NOT to right the cars?

 

Potential safety hazards with moving vehicles?

[willh51]

Just out of curiosity, was anything running two trains in the middle of July?

[alilstronger]

Just out of curiosity, was anything running two trains in the middle of July?

 

Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. I have been to SFA on a Saturday in the summer and the only coaster running two trains was Joker's Jinx.

[zachclarke2]

Joker and Wild One were running 2 trains when I was there. Batwing tested with 2 trains, but then only ran 1 throughout the day.

[Oryp]

Went to the park today mostly to ride Bonzai Pipelines, but it was down all day. The lifeguard said it went down about halfway through the day yesterday. I ended up riding Roar, Tornado, and ZoomAzon Falls over the course of a few hours. It was the most crowded I've ever seen; lines were pretty long for most things and I parked out in the farthest lot.